Like it... No!

Niya is quite good at expressing her opinion now. When she likes something she will tell you with complete bliss and gusto... LIKE IT! :) She always says it with a huge smile and a look of total rapture on her face! It is the best thing! She does this when she likes dinner, a book, a new park, a jacket, a hug, whatever! :)

On the other hand when she doesn't like something she will tell you as well! The funny part is that she doesn't say the negative words yet, so it sounds like this: frowning "Like it... No!" (said very solemnly) shaking her head and still frowning!

Here is a conversation that really cracked me up...

Daddy: Niya, can you please use your fork to eat your dinner?

Niya: No

Daddy: Yes, Daddy is telling you that you need to use your fork when you eat your dinner. You need to listen to Daddy.

Niya: looking at her fork and thinking about it...

Daddy: Niya, You need to listen to Daddy whether you like it or not and use your fork right now!

Niya: said solemnly as if she had thought it over... Like it... No.

Mommy: had to leave the table... suddenly 'coughing' behind napkin!

Mommy has a funny feeling somebody is going to give Daddy a run for his money! :)

Halloween... out of order!! :(

Niya was a Gnome for Halloween this year, she has a book with a picture of a gnome and loves to point to the gnome and smiles every time... so it seemed the perfect costume. :)

Trick-or-Treating was so much fun this year!! Niya totally got the whole idea and loved going from house to house. We went to a great neighborhood in Naugatuck and while we were driving around waiting for things to get started... Niya started to worry that we weren't actually going to go to any houses. All is quiet in the back seat and then we hear, "Candy... houses please!" in a sad little voice. We both had a good laugh because we thought maybe she had forgotten, and then found a place to park quickly with lots of reassurance that we were really going to get out of the car! :)

Here is Niya waiting to go trick-or-treating... "Dark yet?"

I think she must be thinking how much fun this all sounds by the look on her face in this one!

Gnome kisses!

Here we are... finally out of the car! It was super cold (and thankfully dry) so the coat was essential!

And we're off...

We thought we would do about 3 houses and then Niya would be totally done... but after each one she would look up at us and say with a grin, "More?" and we would go to a few more! Finally it was too dark to see, so we called it a night and went to go get some dinner. Niya got to eat M & M's in the car... she was in heaven! :)

Cook Books

Niya takes cook books very seriously... Here she is flipping through one of my books about muffins and quick breads and telling me all about it! :)

Can't you just see the serious nature of this conversation... She is so funny! I love that we can already share my love of cooking and baking! I'm so lucky! :)

This post is long overdue... The Macy's Day Parade

Wow, I'm really out of blog practice... these pictures are all in the reverse order!!

Anyway...

We took Niya to the 84th annual Macy's day parade this year in NYC. It was awesome! We took the train into the city and Niya loved it. The entire time she was jumping up and down in her seat and saying "Thomas, Thomas the train!" She thinks all trains are Thomas the train... and she sings the music... it was so funny.

The weather was perfect... cold (as expected) but also pretty perfect (we didn't get rained on or snowed on). Niya had the perfect view on our shoulders and watched the entire parade. Toward the end she started to get a little tired and droopy... sometimes laying on one of our heads... but she was up and managed to wave at Santa at the end! It was a great day!

Niya waving to Santa

Awestruck by one of the balloons... Hello Kitty I think; that one was her favorite! Or, maybe a close second to the giant pumpkin balloons... she kept saying "Hold it?! Hold it?!" which was pretty funny because the pumpkins were like 30 ft. tall.

Waiting patiently for things to begin

Here we are... toward the end... Niya is looking sleepy!

My little "ear warmer" watching the parade!

Although not our traditional Thanksgiving, we had a wonderful time and felt like we had a "Big Adventure"!

Some Family Pictures

A few pictures of us... and a close up of "the cute one"!

Our family at Yale

Just the three of us...

of course Niya had to pick this moment to decide she didn't want her picture taken! :(

Thanks for trying Papa Sully! :)

A Great Visit With Papa Sully!

Papa Sully came to visit and we had a wonderful time sharing CT and the east coast. Niya just loved having him here, and is still talking about his visit. She often says "Papa?" holding the phone up to her ear... "Hello?". When I ask her if she wants to call him on the phone she looks at me, all serious,... "Puter (computer)?" Our little technology kid would rather Skype than talk on the phone! :)

Niya and Papa Sully in Newport RI

Sharing a favorite book

"Does a cow say boo?" No, but Niya can!! :)

Look what I found...

Can you catch me?

We had a wonderful visit! We hope you can come back soon! :)

Silly Daddy!

Niya loves to sit on Daddy and have him bounce around on the bed... she thinks it is hilarious! I just wish he could see the smiles! :)

Wee!

Mommy has to stay close so I don't fall off... these rides get a bit crazy!

Just trying to stay on!

That was great...

Thanks Dada!

What a good Daddy!!! :)

Should I Be Worried?

We came across this "Bat Mobile" the other day when out shopping. We couldn't get Niya out of this thing!! Just look at the daredevil look on her face in these pictures! Hmm I'm just not sure I'm cut out to be the mother of a race car driver! What are we going to do?!

Hey, I think I like this...

Yeah! This is awesome!!

Now, how do I make it go faster?!?

The "Horse"

Kev gives Niya "horsey" rides on his knees... which she has found funny since she was a small baby. Now that she is bigger, she pretends to ride horses often... she moves with the motion of the chosen horse, and even makes the clicking sound of a running horse with her mouth. Now Niya has found a way to experience the feeling of the wind in your hair too!

I think this latest "horse" is by far the best one yet!

Niya and Daddy

Niya loves shoulder rides... she starts smiling and giggling the minute she is up on your shoulders! The best rides are with Daddy of course: Higher up, better shoulders, he bounces more, and his hair is fun to play with!

Up on the shoulders!

Sooo much fun!

How cute is this one!

Daddy and his little girl...

she has him wrapped around her finger already... who could blame him! :)

Niya Loves the Beach

Some fun in the sun with a new little friend the same age!

Too busy moving sand around to look at Mommy!

Not too crowded...

I cannot believe how grown up she looks in this picture... she looks about 3 or 4!!

playing with our shadows

Ahhh the beach in a place where you can actually wear a swimsuit and not freeze to death

(what a novel idea)!!

More Pants!!

Poor kid... nothing seems to stay up... the clothes that fit her in length are way to big around... I'm so jealous! :P

Niya and the Pants!!!

The Graham Cracker Bunny

At lunch: Niya holds out a sticky hand to me holding one half of a graham cracker bunny. She is sharing, offering it to me to eat. Knowing it is one of her last two bunnies, I decline "No thank you honey, Mama is all done". She looks at the bunny, Giving it some serious thought, gives it a kiss and offers it to me again! As if to say, see all it needed was a kiss to make it irresistible! Don't you want to eat it now?! :) I gave in and ate the bunny! How could anyone resist such an offer!?! ;)

My Hero!

Niya looks at all things in life with such enthusiasm! She is my hero, I hope to gain just an ounce of that enthusiasm from her...

At the beach: Asleep in the car (as I take her out, sorry to wake her up) her head pops up, wide awake, she looks around... "Oh Wow!!!" she says with complete excitement!

At dinner: "Num Num?" she asks as she waits for the food to be ready. "Yeah, we're going to eat soon." I tell her... "Ooooh!" she says. Once at the table she looks things over and states with happiness "Num! Num! Num!"

At bath time: As the water is running she is bouncing up and down with excitement... "Bath Bath!!" she is shouting with glee!

At breakfast: She surveys her cinnamon raisin bread, blackberries, and yogurt... "Mmmm" she says with a satisfied smile.

She is just happy about everything... it makes me happy just to be with her! :)

Meet...Mouse

Just before Niya's first birthday she found this toy mouse in a toy store and wouldn't let it go... We did leave the store without it... but Mommy guilt set in and Mouse arrived for Niya's birthday. From the minute he came out of the box... these two are always together (when they are at home). Here are some pictures of "Mou"(se), as Niya calls him (she doesn't say the S sound at the end).

Meet Mouse (notice his little twizzled whiskers...

she wraps them around her fingers as she falls asleep.

Mouse waiting patiently

As if to say... I'm here if you need me!

Mouse gets a kiss... Mouse also gets to have his teeth brushed, sit with us to read stories, and gets a drink of water (just like Niya) right before bed.

When Niya is up, Mouse is up too.

Who would have known that this silly little guy would become such a good friend. Why a mouse... nobody knows! Maybe we should ask cousin Caleb... he might know! :)

Finally... More Teeth!!

I am compelled to write this post... After much concern and waiting, and worrying (all on my part, all needless) Niya is finally getting more of her teeth. For those of you that I confided in, you know I was concerned, I know it seems silly but she had two teeth early at 6 months, and then nothing for another six. I wasn't sure the rest were even in there! Anyway, Niya now has 7 teeth (all in the last month or so) and I finally caught them in a picture*!

*I had to throw an elephant up in the air, and as I yelled Weee and she watched it fall, I managed to capture this super excited smile! :) This is how she smiles all the time, but it is hard to catch it in a picture before she is off to do something else! :)

Gotta love that Sullivan chin right?!!

Time To Smell The Daisies... Literally

On a recent visit to Newport Rhode Island (affectionately referred to as the 'other' Newport in our house) We made a stop at a city park for Niya to get out of the stroller and walk around. She just loved the daisies that were all taller than she is! I couldn't help but take pictures!!

Finding a perfect one to smell

No Dada, I don't want the one that you are holding conveniently close for me to smell, I want this one!

Dada helping Niya to see the rest of a really huge old tree. She loved it... she just wanted to stare up at the branches... every so often she would say Wow, Wow, WOW!

We had a fantastic time, 'the other Newport' is beautiful, can't wait to take some of you there! :)

"Tiny" Dancer

Going to lunch today Niya fell fast asleep on the car ride over. When we arrived at the Mexican restaurant, I climbed in to get her out of the car. There was fiesta music playing in the background from the restaurants outdoor patio seating. As I unbuckled Niya, she opened her eyes and began to bob her head to the music... then the head slowly sank back down and she was fast asleep again! I laughed and tried to get her out of the seat, only to have her wake up, bob her head to the music (really getting into the beat) and then promptly fall asleep again (head hanging down, chin on her chest, and eyes closed). I motioned to Kevin to watch (he was waiting next to the car) and I gave her a little gentle pat, "wake up baby, time to go have some num nums." Once again the head is up, eyes open, and she is bobbing to the music and then she is back to sleep... I think our laughing finally woke her up (and then she just looked confused and sleepy)! :)

Poor kid, I tried to tell her that she needed that morning nap... she just didn't believe me! :)

Niya "Reading" A Book With Mommy

I think this is so funny... just wanted to share! :)